This invention relates to a door locking mechanism and, more particularly, to a door locking mechanism for use on either an inwardly or outwardly opening door which can be independently locked and unlocked from both the inside and outside thereof.
Commercial establishments and many residential buildings in urban areas require door locking mechanisms with improved ability to withstand attempts at unlawful entry. This is particularly true in public places such as subways and the like where it is necessary to have entry and exit doors which can be independently opened and locked from both sides. In many New York City subways today, for example, in order to lock the swinging entry/exit doors, they currently simply use heavy chains and a single padlock to secure the door. This is obviously an inconvenient and cumbersome system.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,747 (the subject matter of which is incorporated herein), I disclose a door locking mechanism which locks both side edges of the door simultaneously, can be used with both inwardly and outwardly opening doors, and which can be locked and unlocked via a cylinder lock on the outside of the door. However, on the inside of the door, the mechanism is actuated by a knob. This would be unsuitable for use in public access places such as subways wherein the entry doors typically consist of open vertical bars, as a result of which it would be easy for one who wished to unlawfully enter through the door to simply pass his hand through the door and turn the knob to unlock the lock and open the door.